Prayer for an Orthodox person is not simply and not only a religious duty, it is, first of all, the moral need of the human soul for dialogue with God, the Mother of God, angels or saints. Prayer is the conversion of thought, feelings to eternity, one of the spiritual and moral exploits of the Orthodox Christian.
During the calendar year, the Orthodox Church determines special days on which a person must turn to God with great zeal and strive for spiritual perfection. These periods are called holy fasts. At the same time, fasting is not just abstinence from certain foods, but consists in the person’s desire to be better, exercise of his personality in spiritual exploits, including prayer.
Currently, there is an opinion about the unreasonableness of reading akathists in the post. Akathist refers to certain prayer works consisting of 12 kondakas and ikos, in which there are prayer appeals to God, the Virgin, this or that saint, expressed in an exalted joyful form. Akathist is one of the most joyful and solemn prayers in the Orthodox Church. It is no coincidence that in akathist writings a person addresses, for example, the Mother of God with an enthusiastic greeting: "Rejoice …".
Advocates of the prohibition of reading akathists in fasting refer precisely to the fact that saving abstinence is a special strict time, in which even prayers should be ascetic. Some people believe that in fasting the soul of a Christian it is not permissible to read prayers of such a "joyful nature." Instead, they say, certain prayers of repentance are laid. However, such a worldview is alien to the Orthodox tradition.
The Church pays particular attention to the fact that fasting is a time of repentance. Therefore, penitential prayers, ascetic canons are quite appropriate. At the same time, following the gospel words of Christ, the Church does not impose on a person a duty during abstinence to walk with sad faces, to grieve and to show with all appearance how strictly a person fasts. For an Orthodox person, fasting time (time of repentance) is a special joyful period in life. Based on this, if a person has a prayer mood with a feeling of joyful trembling from the reading of an akathist, then this fact cannot be perceived by Orthodoxy negatively. Akathist is a prayer work that carries a deep spiritual meaning. Akathists help a person focus on one of the important components of fasting - prayer.
Thus, the ban on reading akathists during fasting does not correspond to Orthodox practice and carries a somewhat misunderstanding of saving abstinence. In addition, the liturgical practice of the Church itself, the church charter on certain days prescribes the performance of reading akathistas in fasting. In particular, this refers to the fifth Saturday of Lent - the time when the reading of the akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos is performed in Orthodox churches. This day is referred to in the liturgical charter as the Sabbath of Akathist (Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary). This ordering appeared in the Church more than a thousand years ago.
It is also necessary to mention the practice of reading an akathist to the Passion of the Lord. Starting from the evening of the second Sunday of Lent, in many Orthodox churches a special Lenten service is held to remember the sufferings of Christ (there are only four such services). A special place in this service is occupied by the reading of an akathist to the Passion of Christ.
